Pass The Aspirin?

Punctuality is, understandably, of great importance to employers. And some bosses like to make it clear that there will be consequences for being late. So, lock her in the shed and get the hammers! Wait—what?

According to a police report filed in April, Nancy Crockett arrived late one day for her job at the Millstone BBQ res­taurant in Logan, Ohio. Crockett claims she asked whether she was in trouble for her tardiness and was assured she wasn’t.

A bit later, according to the report, her “employers threatened to fire her for not doing her job. Three co-workers then locked her in a mini storage unit” and began striking it with hammers.

“She’s locked in there, it’s dark, there’s very little room,” said Croc­kett’s attorney, Rayl Stepter of Logan, in a television interview. “She pretty much just crouches down in a corner and puts her hands over her ears.”

Crockett claims to have been locked in the shed for at least 15 min­utes, though attorney Jason Sarver of Lancaster says video surveillance footage of the incident indicates that Crockett was in the shed for less than four minutes, and that she emerged looking calm.

Sarver, who represents one of the employees charged with unlawful restraint, says a prosecutor alleged Crockett was “constructively coerced into the shed via the managers’ in­her­ent positions of authority,” but he says the shed was unlocked and she could have gotten out.

No specifics were available concerning Crockett’s possible legal ac­tion against the restaurant.